Why Workers Without College Degrees Are Fleeing Big Cities

Not only did those at the bottom of the wage scale — janitors, cashiers at 7-Eleven — make more money in dense urban centers, but these places also offered data entry, bookkeeping and other jobs that paid middle-class wages while requiring little or no college experience. Research by Peter Ganong from the University of Chicago and Daniel Shoag of Harvard suggests that housing costs are a principal driver of the change in migration decisions: As the highly educated have flocked to superstar cities, they have pushed housing prices way beyond the reach of people earning less. In 1960, housing absorbed 17 percent of a janitor’s household earnings in King County, compared with 9 percent of a lawyer’s, according to data from Mr. Ganong.

Source: www.nytimes.com